Platelet Antibodies In Mental Disorder

Abstract

Platelets are a model for monoamine containing neurons in the CNS (Sneddon, 1973; Pletcher etal., 1984). Serotonin and dopamine uptake mechanisms are well established in this model (Lingjaerde, 1977; Gordon and Overman, 1978; Omenn and Smith, 1978; Lingjaerde and Kildemo, 1981). Shinitzky and co-workers (1991) first demonstrated platelet associated antibodies (PAA) in schizophrenia and dementia which crossreacted with brain tissue from rats. Kessler and Shinitzky (1993) showed that PAA from schizophrenic patients specifically inhibited the uptake of dopamine by platelets and interfered with the dopamine receptor ligands [3H]-dopamine and [3H]-spiperone at rat brain P2m membranes. The authors suggested that blood platelets may function as a peripheral epitope for the formation of PAA, which, when reaching the brain, may react with the dopamine receptor and elicit mental disorder. In this context alterations of the immune status with occurrence of autoantibodies in schizophrenia are known for decades (Brauchitsch, 1972; DeLisi et al., 1985; Stein etal., 1987). In this study we investigated the formation of anti platelet antibodies in patients with various mental disorders.